They left the Chicago Bears’ name in the endzones-cum-in-goals at Soldier Field. Where touchdowns are pulled from the skies, the Wallabies duly touched down tries.
Rugby’s return to a football citadel produced the predictable result: a win for Australia, ranked No2 in the world, against the 16th-ranked Americans. But it was “only” by seven tries to one, and two of those Wallaby tries came after the Eagles squandered golden opportunities of their own. At the time of the first instance the scoreline was, definitively, close.
The game started as expected, Bernard Foley the first to score, stepping past opposite fly-half AJ MacGinty with ease after a succession of penalties and scrums and the sin-binning of Eagles lock Greg Peterson for killing the ball. Even after six minutes the home eight were under the hammer – as a seven, minus Peterson’s 6ft 8in and 260lbs, they had next to no chance at all.
They still had seven forwards on the field when the second try went in, the Wallabies running a MacGinty drop-out back for the try, by Nick Phipps, without noticeable impediment.
So far, so familiar from the visit of New Zealand in Chicago last November, when Mike Tolkin’s Eagles were as game as they were outmatched. But then the Americans began to make an impact.
They did so shudderingly literally, a snot-rattling defence led by Samu Manoa, of course, and the centres Seamus Kelly and Thretton Palamo. But there were also patient, one- or two-pass attacks, scrum-half Mike Petri prompting and MacGinty darting and dummying. A penalty from the Irish-born No10 got the Eagles on the board – and they were on it again soon after.
One of a number of loose balls at the tackle, rattled out by Eagles hits, saw the home team break. Quick ball went right via Kelly to Takudzwa Ngwenya, the Biarritz wing who scored an all-time great World Cup try eight years ago against South Africa. He cut inside and made ground before offloading to Petri for a fantastic team score.
MacGinty converted, and the half came with Australia 14-10 ahead, Eagles defenders flying forward, sideways, anywhere to knock the ball loose, and a crowd of around 25,000 delighted to express its approval.
The second half started with more of the same – Wallaby knocks on under pressure from exuberant Eagles defenders – but also with the noticeable absence from the field of the fearsome Manoa. The Eagles’ best player was no doubt being paced, saved for World Cup pool B, but he was certainly missed too.
Manoa wasn’t there when the Eagles, still 14-10 down, knocked on from a five-metre lineout of their own. He wasn’t there minutes later when the flanker Sean McMahon touched down from the back of a driving Wallabies maul, 95 metres back the other way.
That score seemed to flip the switch. The replacement lock Dean Mumm, late of Exeter, was next on the board, another close lineout letting the Wallabies launch a wider attack and find the mismatch for the big lock, against Petri.
But there was still fight in the Eagles – literally, in the case of replacements John Quill and Louis Stanfill – and the game never turned into a procession.
At 28-10 another turnover led to a breakaway for the Eagles captain, Chris Wyles, who was just pulled back by Joe Tomane. The Eagles went to another five-metre lineout. This time hooker Phil Thiel missed his jumper and the Wallabies went all the way to the other end for Kurtley Beale to score.
There were two more tries, for two Wallaby replacements. The first went to Quade Cooper, confirmed by the TMO after he slipped the ball down under a tackle from Blaine Scully and Andrew Duratolo. The second, from another US turnover, went to Taqele Naiyaravoro.
USA: Blaine Scully; Takudzwa Ngwenya, Seamus Kelly, Thretton Palamo, Chris Wyles (capt); AJ MacGinty, Mike Petri; Eric Fry, Zach Fenoglio, Titi Lamositele, Cam Dolan, Greg Peterson, Al McFarland, Andrew Duratolo, Samu Manoa. Replacements: Phil Thiel, Olive Kilifi, Chris Baumann, Louis Stanfill, John Quill, Danny Barrett, Shalom Suniula, Folau Niua.
Try Petri Con MacGinty Pen MacGinty.
Sin-bin Peterson 6-16.
Australia: Kurtley Beale; Joe Tomane, Henry Speight, Matt Giteau, Rob Horne; Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps (Will Genia, 40); James Slipper (capt), Tatafu Polota-Nau, Greg Holmes, Kane Douglas, Rob Simmons, Ben McCalman, Sean McMahon, Wycliff Palu. Replacements: James Hanson, Scott Sio, Toby Smith, Dean Mumm, Sam Carter, Quade Cooper, Will Genia, Taqele Naiyaravoro.
Tries Foley, Phipps, McMahon, Mumm, Beale, Cooper, Naiyaravoro Cons Foley 6.
Referee: J Peyper (South Africa).
